Quote:
Originally Posted by garygibsonsf
I get the impression people are missing the real point of Alfy's post: it's not about Alfy's experience, it's that unless you're a book-crazed technophile who wants to read books published later than about 1900, you'd have to be crazy to buy an ereader device based on the stated experiences.
I too used to recommend the devices, but do so no longer, despite still being deeply enamoured of my Sony Reader. The immense hurdles of drm-stripping, geographical restrictions, ridiculous prices and formats compatible or not compatible with different pieces of hardware would send any reasonably sane person running unless, like many here, they might actually get a kick out of figuring out how to read the books they want to read and pay for them.
Most people I know who like to read aren't nearly so tech-minded, and they get by browsing online with a generic laptop and Internet Explorer (I'm betting the vast majority in these forums use other browsers), and their eyes are going to start glazing over the minute anyone so much as mentions file formats, let alone how to strip files, use command lines etc.
I couldn't in my right mind recommend any such machine to anyone who cared in the least about actually being able to retain copies of their purchases and still be able to read them even five years down the road, if they, like most people, have no interest in screwing around with grey-net cracking software. And let's be clear: I like reading ebooks. I like my Sony Reader. It's great. I think everyone should have one - but that won't happen until the market achieves some balance of sanity.
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Technophiles? I'm sorry, but what part of having to open a cover, flip pages, find and place bookmarks, buy/build/use bookshelves does NOT require an appreciation and possibly a complex understanding of technology? Heck, just about any efficient use of information storage and transfer requires technology and advanced learning. (After all, just what do you call years of schooling in writing, grammar, syntax and reading?)
I guess real technophobes draw pictures on rock walls using charred sticks.
Derek